| 摘要 |
<p>A method for determining an estimated level of occupancy for a buffer of a processing device in a communication system is provided. The communication system comprises a data source sending packets of information, the processing device and a receiver. The processing device receives the packets of information from the data source, stores information for at least some of the packets in the buffer, and transmits packets of information along a communication channel for reception by one or more receivers. The receiver receives packets of information from the communication channel that were transmitted by one or more devices including at least some of the packets of information that were transmitted by the processing device. In the method, a selected packet from the packets of information received by the receiver that conveys data indicating the selected packet was received by the receiver as a result of a first attempt by the processing device to transmit the selected packet. A receiving time for the selected packet is recorded when it was received by the receiver is identified. The communication channel is monitored to detect transmissions by any of the one or more devices. The method further comprises calculating a length of time immediately prior to the receiving time of the selected packet during which no transmissions along the communication channel were detected. The length of time is compared to a first wait-interval threshold. The estimated level of occupancy for the buffer is determined to be zero if the length of time exceeds the first wait-interval threshold and a signal conveying information that represents the estimated level of occupancy for the buffer is generated.</p> |
